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Marcia Narine Weldon

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Professor Narine Weldon is the director of the Transactional Skills Program, Faculty Coordinator of the Business Compliance & Sustainability Concentration, Transactional Law Concentration, and a Lecturer in Law.

She earned her law degree, cum laude, from Harvard Law School, and her undergraduate degree, cum laude, in political science and psychology from Columbia University. After graduating, she worked as a law clerk to former Justice Marie Garibaldi of the Supreme Court of New Jersey, a commercial litigator with Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen and Hamilton in New York, an employment lawyer with Morgan, Lewis and Bockius in Miami, and as a Deputy General Counsel, VP of Global Compliance and Business Standards, and Chief Privacy Officer of Ryder, a Fortune 500 Company. In addition to her academic position, she serves as the general counsel of a startup and a nonprofit.  Read More

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Or at least that appears to be the thesis of Wharton professor Adam Grant’s (relatively) new book Give and Take (2013).  (Disclosure: I received a free copy from the publisher).

According to Professor Grant, giving, matching, and taking “are three fundamental styles of social interaction.”  Givers give without thought of what they will get in return; givers are generous, other-focused, and give without keeping score.  Matchers give expecting quid pro quo; matchers “believe in tit for tat…and believe in an even exchange of favors.”  Takers give expecting a positive return; takers put “their own interests ahead of others’ needs.” (pgs. 4-5). 

Grant is quick to admit that, “the lines between [giving, taking, and matching] are not hard and fast.” (pg. 5)  Most of us fall somewhere in the middle, as more exacting or less exacting “matchers.”

In his book, Grant cites studies of medical students, engineers, salespeople, and others to support his thesis that the “worst performers and the best performers are givers; takers and matchers are more likely to land in the middle.” (pg. 7) (emphasis added).  (While Grant cites a number of academic studies, this book is written for a popular audience.)

If “givers” end up at…

Alberto Gonzales has been named the new dean of Belmont University’s College of Law.  He is currently on the Belmont law school faculty, and his appointment is effective June 1, 2014.

The Tennessean story is here.

While Alberto Gonzales is certainly a controversial figure in some circles, I believe that people should be given multiple chances in life.  He brings a wealth of high level experience to his new position, including:

  • Partner at Vinson & Elkins, 
  • Justice on the Texas Supreme Court,
  • Texas Secretary of State,
  • General Counsel to the Governor of Texas,
  • Counsel to the President of the United States,
  • 80th Attorney General of the United States, and
  • Visiting Professor at Texas Tech University

My office is across campus at Belmont University’s business school, but I will teach Business Associations in the law school this fall (in addition to my courses in the business school), and I look forward to interacting with our new law school dean. 

A friend with two small children recently told me that he has a bad case of FOMO (“fear of missing out”) at work because of his obligations at home.  His comment struck a chord with me because I recently turned down an opportunity to present a paper because the conference falls on my son’s upcoming first birthday.  Last year, I passed on another wonderful opportunity because it was extremely close to my son’s due date.  (Privileged, first world problems, I realize).  Unlike some of our readers, I am not usually inundated with requests to speak, so both of these opportunities were difficult to turn down. 

Do not get me wrong, the flexibility provided by a career as a professor is fabulous for raising a family.  However, while the baseline day-to-day work requirements for professors are relatively limited, the possible uses of our time are infinite.  For Type-A people like me (and most business and law professors I know), it can be difficult to know where to draw the line at work.  And even when we do draw the line, like I did in the two cases mentioned above, there can be nagging feelings that we are missing out, that those…

Harvard

Just received my confirmation for the Harvard Negotiation Institute, which takes place this June at Harvard Law School.

I decided to jump right into the “Advanced Negotiation” workshop, so we will see how that goes.  It is pricey, but I hope it to be a good investment for my institution and something I can draw on in my classes.

Like I have said before, I believe that negotiation should be a required course at law schools and business schools everywhere (though I realize that is now a self-interested opinion).  Every lawyer and business person spends a great deal of time negotiating. 

After the Institute, I am sure I will blog about the experience. 

Now that I am teaching MBA courses in negotiation, I see negotiations everywhere.

For example, in reading about the extremely interesting NLRB ruling in favor of the Northwestern University football players – holding that the players are “employees” and can unionize – I came across this Sports Illustrated article:  Northwestern ruling sends clear message: NCAA, it’s time to negotiate.

Former Northwestern quarterback Kain Colter does a nice job articulating some of the interests from the players’ side of things in this video.

Given this ruling, which will be appealed, and the O’Bannon v. NCAA case which is set for trial on June 9, there is likely to be a great deal of negotiation between the NCAA and players outside of the courtroom over the next few months.  As the cases move closer to potential resolutions in favor of the players, the NCAA’s BATNA (best alternative to a negotiation) weakens.   The NCAA, however, may raise doubts about the players’ BATNA, by raising things like the possible tax implications of a court victory.

These will be complex, multi-party, multi-issue negotiations.  The parties with interests at stake include current and former players, coaches and athletic directors, colleges and universities, the…

Recently, I came across a post on the Wall Street Journal’s website by Warby Parker co-founder Neil Blumenthal entitled My Advice? Stop “Networking.”

This short post caught my eye for two reasons.

First, Warby Parker is a certified B corporation and one of the more visible (they sell glasses… humor is not my strong suit) and successful companies in the for-profit social enterprise movement. 

Second, since my move to a business school last fall, I have heard the term “networking” with increasing frequency.  Sure, “networking” is discussed in law schools and there are some networking events, but in business schools the term “networking” is ubiquitous and the events focused on “networking” are constant. 

“Networking” has some negative connotations, but I think Blumenthal’s attack is misplaced.  Instead of attacking “networking,” Blumenthal would have done better to attack “selfishness.”  

There is nothing wrong, and much good, in the dictionary definition of “networking”:

the exchange of information or services among individuals, groups, or institutions; specifically: the cultivation of productive relationships for employment or business.

Networking can be a wonderful thing, for everyone involved, if you can keep the selfishness at a minimum.  Unfortunately, many people …

Statutory provisions allowing for the formation of Delaware Public Benefit Corporations (“PBCs“) went effective August 1, 2013.  According to the latest data I have, 87 PBCs have been formed in Delaware .

While 87 is an extremely small number when compared to the more than 1 million entities formed in Delaware, Delaware has already bested all states that have passed a benefit corporation statute, except for California.  California, which has a 20 month head-start on Delaware, has 139 benefit corporations.

Some states, like New Jersey and South Carolina have been stuck at fewer than 5 benefit corporations for well over a year.

The group of researchers I am working with now estimates that there are about 350 benefit corporations in the U.S. (including PBCs), though the data is relatively difficult to obtain from the secretary of state’s offices and obtaining reliable, complete data is even more difficult.

Currently, there are no significant tax benefits (at the state or federal level) for social enterprises (like PBCs and benefit corporations) in the U.S., but the U.K. recently announced 30% tax relief for their social enterprises. (The U.K. social enterprises are a good bit different than those in the…

Carnegie
On spring break, I found a hardcover copy of Professor David Nasaw’s biography of Andrew Carnegie in a Boone, NC thrift shop for $1.  (Good books and good deals are two of my favorite things).  A New York Times book review is available here.

I only made it about 200 pages into the fascinating 801 page biography before returning to work.  I am currently on page 293, but already have some thoughts to share.

Before digging into this book, “failure” was one of the last words I would have associated with Andrew Carnegie.  Carnegie is well known as one of the “captains of industry” (in the steel business) and as an extremely generous philanthropist.  Even the word “struggle” is not a word I would have associated with Andrew Carnegie; from a distance, everything seemed to come easily for him.

But, like most of us, Carnegie experienced failure, and his life was marked by numerous struggles.

[More after the break] 

News from Delaware.gov (H/T Broc Romanek):

Governor Markell today announced the nomination of Andre G. Bouchard, widely recognized as one of the country’s premier corporate law practitioners, to serve as the 21st Chancellor of the Court of Chancery. If confirmed by the Delaware Senate, Bouchard would succeed the Honorable Leo E. Strine, Jr., who was sworn in as Chief Justice of the Delaware Supreme Court in February.

Bouchard is a graduate of Boston College and Harvard Law School.  Currently, he is the managing partner of Bouchard Margules & Friedlander, P.A in Wilmington, Delaware. 

Looks like my friends in Delaware accurately predicted this nomination back in January.